1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to terminals for use in the telecommunications industry for separating the wires of the telephone company network from the inside wiring of the subscriber, and more particularly to a module for an entrance terminal which incorporates, adjacent to the demarcation point, overvoltage protection, a jack, and a half-ringer or a maintenance termination unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has become a requirement that there be a demarcation between the telephone lines of the telephone company and terminal protective equipment and the subscribers lines at the premises for data communication equipment and/or telephones. The demarcation point is preferably outside the premises to allow access at any time by the telephone company and is to be where the wiring crosses a property line or the closest point to where the wiring enters a multi-unit building or buildings. The demarcation point for single unit installations is positioned within twelve inches of the protector or, where there is no protector, within twelve inches of where the telephone wire enters the customer's premises.
The prior art teaches the use of modules for the connection of incoming telephone lines and the customers lines. These prior art modules comprise a module for connection to the incoming telephone lines and a modular plug and jack for plugging in of the customers lines. The module not only includes the plug-in arrangement but can incorporate the line protectors, and other circuits for performing service functions. Two patents disclosing such prior art devices are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,613,732 and 4,742,541.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,238 discloses a simplistic telephone network interface where the incoming lines and the customers lines are joined at the interface by an RJIIC modular plug and jack. A similar interface is illustrated in patent No. Des. 291,081. The use of such or similar modular devices is illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,723,919; 4,749,359; and 4,800,588.
Other protected entrance terminals have used interface connectors as described to be positioned between a panel adapted to support a plurality of surge arrestors and individual ringers or maintenance termination units in series with the interface connectors. These terminals used protective devices as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,954 which plugged into the panels.
In all these devices the physical size of the terminals were larger and they were more costly than desired by the service companies to protect the customer lines and to afford electronic checks to be made on the network lines in the event of a report of some malfunction.
The present invention affords an alternative to having to acquire entrance panels with expandable properties and then as necessary add the protection equipment to plug into the panel and the suitable circuitry to improve the servicing of the lines.